Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider
registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today.

The author of the explosive dossier outlining the president’s alleged ties to Russia won an important legal victory on Monday, when a judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against his firm by the co-founders of Russia’s largest private bank.

In his decision to toss the case “with prejudice”—that is, permanently—Judge Anthony C. Epstein of the Washington, D.C., Superior Court concluded that the author of the dossier, the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, acted “in furtherance of the right of advocacy on issues of public interest” when he decided to brief reporters on the dossier’s findings in the summer of 2016. Steele’s conduct is therefore protected by “anti-slapp” statutes, according to the judge, which aim to halt lawsuits brought to chill the exercise of constitutionally protected free speech.

Sometimes good things come in threes. Manafort convicted, Cohen pleading guilty, and also this all in one day. We might just save ourselves after all.

Putin has been quite open in his desire for Trump to be President rather than Clinton. There is no law against that. America interfered in Ukraine. All this Russiagate and Russiaphobia is way over the top. Much of it stems from the Assad must go policies of the past. As Putin has said in the past, not all Russian billionaires support Putin in the same way as billionaires like George Soros in America don't necessarily support Trump. I don't know exactly how much control the Russian GRU has over murdering Russians abroad.

There is an interesting analysis of Putin's attitude to Israel at this website, though I am not sure he appreciates that the Arabs consider Israel to be an alien state on Arab lands:

Russia And America Put Aside Their Differences In Order To “Maintain Stable Cooperation…On Many Issues, Including The Southern De-Escalation Zone (In Syria), Where Israeli…Interests Are Also Present”:
“I have to note that other countries, including the United States, are greatly contributing; even though they are not participating in the talks in Astana directly, they are influencing these processes behind the scenes. We maintain stable cooperation with our American partners in this sphere, on this track, even though not without disputes. However, there are more positive than negative elements in our cooperation. So far, we have managed to agree on many issues, including the southern de-escalation zone, where Israeli and Jordanian interests are also present.” – Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, 19 October, 2017

There is an interesting article about all this so-called Russian hacking scandal on the internet news today which implies that it is mainly about anybody who tries to fight corruption by these oligarchs in Russia and America:

So I wasn’t surprised when my computer was hacked in a custom-made attack launched from a Russian-speaking country. Nor was I shocked when Microsoft revealed that, once I had finished my research into how kleptocrats move around their money, my project was targeted by hackers run by Russian intelligence, who cloned a website in order to phish the accounts of anyone interested in our work.

But this time I didn’t stop to think, “Why me?” It was now perfectly clear. What upsets the current regime in Moscow is not what used to infuriate the old Soviet authorities—research into its military strength—but anything exploring its illicit finances. Something similar might now be said of the current White House.

Looking back on it, I realize that every story I ever filed from Russia was not just a politics story, or a crime story, or a spy story—but almost always, on some level, also a corruption story.

That’s one final, spooky way that Washington now feels just like Moscow.

__________________OECD healthcare spending
Expenditure on healthcarehttp://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm
link is 2015 data (2013 Data below):
UK 8.5% of GDP of which 83.3% is public expenditure - 7.1% of GDP is public spending
US 16.4% of GDP of which 48.2% is public expenditure - 7.9% of GDP is public spending

... There is no law against that. America interfered in Ukraine. All this Russiagate and Russiaphobia is way over the top. ...

There are crimes committed all over the world every second. Remember not to file a complaint next time your house is burgled. **** happens, dude.

__________________Driftwood on an empty shore of the sea of meaninglessness. Irrelevant, weightless, inconsequential moment of existential hubris on the fast track to oblivion.His real name is Count Douchenozzle von Stenchfahrter und Lichtendicks. - shemp

It's almost as if there once were GOP presidential candidates who didn't want to be surrounded by scumbags.

Not really. They just didn't like foreign scumbags. Domestic scum was always their preference.

__________________All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power & profit - Thomas Paine

"We felt it was important to demonstrate the president has taken command of this issue, that it's something he cares deeply about — that the integrity of our elections and our constitutional process are a high priority to him," Bolton said.

I love the wording. It doesn't even imply that Trump actually does care. It only says that Bolton et al feel it's important to make the President seem that he cares.

"We felt it was important to demonstrate the president has taken command of this issue, that it's something he cares deeply about — that the integrity of our elections and our constitutional process are a high priority to him," Bolton said.

I love the wording. It doesn't even imply that Trump actually does care. It only says that Bolton et al feel it's important to make the President seem that he cares.

It also looks to be ripe for abuse.

Everything, including the imposition of any sanctions and what those sanctions might consist of, is left to the discretion of top Cabinet officials ... i.e, Trump appointees.

__________________"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."

Why an EO? You've got the House and the Senate. Amend the USC in clear language assuring neutrality and provide a proper chain of prosecution. As an EO, the enforcement can commence after the 8:20 segment on Fox and Friends when Donnie hears one of the leggy idiots say, "Did Justin Trudeau just voice support for Maxine Waters? I don't think that's allowed!"

In those moments you're at the mercy of Trump's sanity, and that's no place anyone wants to be.

__________________Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele

It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

... In those moments you're at the mercy of Trump's sanity, and that's no place anyone wants to be.

I'd extend that to "mercy of 'True Americans' and their oh-so dim minds and dark hearts," but anyway, Happy Birthday.

__________________Driftwood on an empty shore of the sea of meaninglessness. Irrelevant, weightless, inconsequential moment of existential hubris on the fast track to oblivion.His real name is Count Douchenozzle von Stenchfahrter und Lichtendicks. - shemp

I have been following the trump money laundering stuff pretty closely, and this was new and interesting to me. Trump's Azerbaijani / New Jersey connections were moving money all over the place after that Trump Tower meeting that they helped set up.

The documents show Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, at the center of this vast network and how he used accounts overseas to filter money to himself, his son, and at least two people who attended the Trump Tower meeting. The records also offer new insight into the murky financial world inhabited by many of Trump’s associates, who use shell companies and secret bank accounts to quickly and quietly move money across the globe.

Now, four federal law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News, investigators are focused on two bursts of transactions that bank examiners deemed suspicious: one a short time after the meeting and another immediately after the November 2016 presidential election.

The first set came just 11 days after the June 9 meeting, when an offshore company controlled by Agalarov wired more than $19.5 million to his account at a bank in New York.

The second flurry began shortly after Trump was elected. The Agalarov family started sending what would amount to $1.2 million from their bank in Russia to an account in New Jersey controlled by the billionaire’s son, pop singer Emin Agalarov, and two of his friends. The account had been virtually dormant since the summer of 2015, according to records reviewed by BuzzFeed News, and bankers found it strange that activity in Emin Agalarov’s checking account surged after Trump’s victory.

I have been following the trump money laundering stuff pretty closely, and this was new and interesting to me. Trump's Azerbaijani / New Jersey connections were moving money all over the place after that Trump Tower meeting that they helped set up.

A bunch of loose ends possibly leading somewhere. I wonder why anyone goes public with all this speculation unless they're trying to shake something else out of the tree? Perhaps having to do with the fear running through those circles if Paulie Ukraine's turned canary?

I have to say, though, that the "suspicious" Bangkok withdrawals, apparently over thirty days, aren't that suspicious.

Thailand is a cash economy. Even many top restaurants and clubs don't take credit cards. Karaoke and Hostess Bars can run you up a major bill in a very few hours. 37 ATM withdrawals for a total of $8400? He was hitting the sex club circuit.

Think about it... even with his business partner's withdrawals, they went through $16000 in thirty days? That's not going to buy you anyone in the political circles they move in. That's walking around money in Bangkok. 37 withdrawals at an average of $250.00 each?

I think they got their hands on some records and want to make something of it. That sort of money might buy you a police captain in Koh Samui but doesn't even raise an eyebrow with high-roller vacationers.

__________________Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele

It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

I believe that for Mueller, Trump is a small fry that he might be willing to toss back in the pond if he gets to cut the roots Russia has managed to sink into the US political process.
It will probably turn out that Trump and his campaign were more or less clueless stooges, , puppets of Putin, as Clinton said.
For his image, this might do more harm to Trump than being exposed as a criminal mastermind.

__________________Opinion is divided on the subject. All the others say it is; I say it isn’t.

I believe that for Mueller, Trump is a small fry that he might be willing to toss back in the pond if he gets to cut the roots Russia has managed to sink into the US political process. It will probably turn out that Trump and his campaign were more or less clueless stooges, , puppets of Putin, as Clinton said.
For his image, this might do more harm to Trump than being exposed as a criminal mastermind.

Agreed. But you can bet his true believers will claim Mueller and we just don't understand the 3 dimensional chess Trump was really playing.

Agreed. But you can bet his true believers will claim Mueller and we just don't understand the 3 dimensional chess Trump was really playing.

I doubt Trump is even playing checkers. But under this scenario, Robert Mueller's opponent isn't Donald Trump, it's Vladimir Putin.

And Putin's game was honed in the Cold War KGB and the post-collapse kleptocracy. The mind boggles at the kinds of deals he must have made, the favors granted and the hit jobs carried out, to convince the Russian oligarchs that they should let him rule the country.

I doubt there's been a president since Roosevelt, who was actually capable of playing chess on that level. If Mueller is going after Putin, he should probably settle for getting Trump.

Especially if all he has to show so far are nothing process crimes and unrelated offenses by Trump lackeys. You talk about Mueller throwing the little fish back in, because he wants the big fish. But he hasn't even caught the little fish yet.

Especially if all he has to show so far are nothing process crimes and unrelated offenses by Trump lackeys. You talk about Mueller throwing the little fish back in, because he wants the big fish. But he hasn't even caught the little fish yet.

*raises an eyebrow*

Uh huh. That's what you call all the "We're cooperating, so let us off easy, please" bargains in play? Sure looks like he's quite caught a whole bunch of little fish.

This forum began as part of the James Randi Education Foundation (JREF). However, the forum now exists as an independent entity with no affiliation with or endorsement by the JREF, including the section in reference to "JREF" topics.

Disclaimer: Messages posted in the Forum are solely the opinion of their authors.